Apple CEO Tim Cook (center) poses for photos in San Francisco with attendees at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where he introduced new features for the company's mobile devices and Macintosh computers.

Apple senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi introduces the Yosemite operating system during the keynote for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at Moscone West in San Francisco, Calif.

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook (center left) poses for photos with WWDC attendees after speaking during the keynote for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2014 at Moscone West in San Francisco, Calif.

The company that used to shut outsiders out of its ecosystem on Monday unveiled new tools to help mobile apps, wearable health monitors and home automation devices work seamlessly with iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.

CEO Tim Cook and Apple executives outlined the company's new strategy of inclusion during a two-hour keynote that opened Apple's 25th Worldwide Developers Conference at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.

The company previewed updates for its Macintosh operating system, named Yosemite, and iOS 8 for the iPhone and iPad.

For consumers, the most interesting new features include Macintosh computers that can place and answer phone calls when synced to an iPhone and smart door locks and house lights voice-controlled through Siri. An upcoming iOS 8 system will include an updated Messages app with features already popular in third-party apps like WhatsApp.

The keynote, however, was squarely aimed at the 5,000 developers who are expected to attend the five-day conference. And the message was one of inclusion.

"You've seen our app system, devices and services all work together in harmony," Cook said. "Together, they provide an integrated and continuous experience across all of our products."

Apple is competing against Google, Microsoft and Samsung in a consumer market that's exploding with Internet-connected smart devices.

Apple ecosystem

Apple can't create or even control all of those devices itself as it once did with every aspect of Macintosh computers. So the Cupertino company is rolling out new software tools to get the developers of those apps and smart devices to become even more invested in the Apple ecosystem.

One example is HealthKit, a software development platform designed as the central control for all health apps and fitness monitors. The platform would connect to a new iOS 8 app called Health.

Opening up the service to outside teams positions Apple as more of a neutral platform for developers.

"With this new health initiative, they're going to tie in all kinds of wearable devices, keep that data in a single place, and it will be much easier for you to monitor it and for your doctor to monitor it," he said. "You don't have that on Android or Windows, at least yet."

Another example is HomeKit, a platform that connects home-automation devices. Cook said the new iOS 8 will be able to control devices like smart locks, lightbulbs and thermostats using the Siri voice-recognition system.

Now, consumers have to launch different apps to control their other smart devices, Bajarin said.

But having one controlling app could make iPhones and iPads more valuable to consumers if "you can just say to your iPhone 'I'm going to bed' and it automatically turns out the lights and locks the doors," he said. "That kind of automation is a dream."

Internet of Things

Andrew Levy, co-founder of Crittercism, a company that provides a mobile app management performance platform, said Apple's software tools could solve a fragmentation problem that holds back the growing industry of Web-connected devices called the Internet of Things.

"The industry would greatly benefit from a single platform that device makers can agree on," Levy said in an e-mail. "This would ensure connectivity and privacy and provide a seamless experience for consumers. If anyone can take the Internet of Things into the mainstream, Apple can."

And that was precisely the closing message Cook delivered to developers.

"We do this so we can create a seamless experience for our users that is unparalleled in the industry. This is something," Cook said with a pause for dramatic effect, "only Apple can do."